A research project in the French West Indies for repurposing Sargassum seaweed

A research team including the CNRS and l'Université des Antilles has just launched an 18-month interdisciplinary research project, largely financed by Ademe, on the brown seaweed known as Sargassum that has periodically invaded the coasts of the West Indies since 2011. The central objective is to find a way to repurpose this seaweed, which is a cause of public health problems in the Caribbean region. The project will be presented on October 3 during the 15th Regional Cooperation Conference in the Antilles-French Guiana.

Since 2011, two species of Sargassum, Sargassum fluitans and Sargassum natans, have been proliferating in the North Atlantic, and periodically washing up in massive fashion on Caribbean coasts. While these seaweeds have always existed, the major groundings of recent years across Atlantic coasts stretching from the Caribbean to South America are entirely unprecedented.

Sargassum - Quantities - Hydrogen - Sulfide - Beaches

The Sargassum releases considerable quantities of hydrogen sulfide when it decomposes on beaches, provoking olfactory, mechanical, and health problems. Major clean up campaigns have been implemented to counter this damage, although they raise issues with regard to the collecting, storing, and repurposing or elimination of this raw material.

The ECO3SAR research project steered by the Borea laboratory (CNRS/MNHN/SU/IRD/Université Caen Normandie/Université des Antilles), in collaboration with researchers from l'Université...